Darkest Shadow
by death comes from the mist
Summary: Naruto is a sword in the dark, servant of his Liege Lord, and an honoured knight. The story of Westeros now has a new player to play the Game of Thrones.


**The first chapter of my new story. I own neither Naruto nor A Song of Ice and Fire**

**Be warned, there are Spoilers ahead… (As well as fanfiction author liberty – see author note at the end to understand)**

**BTW, wrote this while listening to Ephemeral Rift. Not sure if doing that has altered my writing style or not, but I would advise anyone to check him out.**

_Far to the east, beyond the Shadow Lands of Asshai, there lies another land, taught to the west as an unexplored, forbidden land._

_Yet it is known by all; the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros and the Cities of Essos know that land as a utopia for war, for it is always engulfed by it, and has been for the past century. And war breeds soldiers, and of that there were aplenty. This land is known as Ulthos, and its name means chaos. _

_Within this land of war there lies many safe havens, none as great as the Five Satos: Konoha, Kiri, Suna, Tsuchi and Kumo, and each one is used by the warlords as mercenaries for their wars. While the continent erupts in flames, it is these five that stand tall above all. The lands to the west try to hire these warriors out constantly, but why would they heed the calls of lands far away when their pay comes closer to home?_

_Some do leave the land to explore the outside, but very rarely they do so. But when they do, the greatest of them have been known to change the very fabric of civilizations._

**Dragonstone – 289 AL**

It had been 5 years since the then 6 year old Naruto Uzumaki had washed up upon the shores of Dragonstone; a victim of a vicious storm that had rocked the east coast of Westeros and the Western most points of Essos for days.

The time had been good to the boy, and to the Baratheon's he dwelt with. So much so that the Lord Stannis and Lady Selyse looked at him as a member of their family, bringing a sort of light to the dreary residence of the island castle.

"You cannot come with us little one, you aren't yet old enough for battle." The argument had raged for the best part of an hour, "And nothing you state to me will make me question otherwise."

The ruffled haired blond boy before the Lord of Dragonstone was trying with all his might to not pout, 'the defiance in his eyes is pure Baratheon' thought Stannis. Indeed, there had been ideas travelling the Stormlands and beyond, to his brother's court that he had in fact fathered a bastard child amongst the free cities or further east beyond the shadow lands of Asshai. Everyone who was within noble circles knew of Stannis' warrior from the Unknown Continent, even if he was a child.

"But I want to fight, I have spent the past 6 years in your care, I want to be able to repay you."

It was an odd day when his friend, Ser Davos, brought news of a shipwreck survivor from the storm. Even stranger still when the boy awoke amidst nightmare screams that echoed off the stone walls of the castle, thrashing and speaking a language not known by any of them, not even the Maester, Cressen, could not tell the tongue, and he possessed a Nickel chain depicting his studies of language at the Citadel.

Through translations and learnings jointly by the Maester and Naruto, it was discovered his name and point of origin. Ulthosi warriors were known as legends even that far west, their bodies are naturally adapted over millennia of warfare yet were rarely seen outside their lands. Stannis was then given a choice unto himself, and he chose to let the boy remain with him, and, over time, Naruto became like family to both he and his wife; only himself, Davos and Cressen knew of his tragic past.

"Naruto, my lad wife is late to give birth, and this island will be nearly undefended; we are taking almost everything west to the Ironborn." He paused for breath and thought, before his eyes widened minutely as an idea took claim in his mind. "I, Stannis Baratheon, Lord of Dragonstone, am hearby ordering you, Naruto Uzumaki my charge, to protect my wife, Lady Selyse Baratheon and my unborn child, with your life and blood." Stannis knew that his family would be safe. He has been seen as unloving, portrayed as nothing but a serious man, but he truly did care, but in a different way than everybody else.

He could see the warring emotions struggle in his young wards face, contemplating the situation, 'he will become a fine man, and a finer knight too'. Naruto took a knee before his Lord, "I will protect them with my life milord" he stated with conviction.

Selyse adored the young Ulthosi; she and Stannis had tried for so long to create an heir that they took his arrival as a sign from the Gods. Naruto had told them before that he knew not the love of a mother or father, they were believed to have been dead, and they were the ones that filled in the gap left in his heart. The door allows entrance in both ways. As he grew loved and cared for, so did the love be gifted to them.

Opening the door to his wife's chambers, witnessing her caressing her bulging belly softly, Stannis' expression softened slightly as it was wont to do around his love. Her eyes lit up with joy at seeing them both, receiving the gentle kiss upon her forehead with delight and the slight pat of the head upon the young ward.

"My lady, while I am gone, I have decided that you shall both be protected by Naruto."

Selyse glanced at the boy, who nodded his head slightly; she smiled jubilantly. "My Lord, it pains me that you may not witness the birth of our child, but I am glad that you have chosen a fine protector." She smiled wider at the reddening of his cheeks at the praise. Bowing, he left the Lord and Lady to say their farewells in private, leaving the room to talk to Ser Davos, a man who Naruto looked up to too.

"He grows stronger every day," his wife murmured. Stannis grasped her hand, sitting by her bedside; he leant over to kiss her, Selyse reciprocating the action gladly. Leaning back, Stannis sighed dejectedly.

"I wish you didn't have to leave my love," came a fearful statement.

Stannis seemed to darken, ageing drastically in the soft candlelight. "The Ironborn are scum, raping and pillaging. And I am the Master of Ships, it is my duty to lead the realms navy to battle at sea." Robert held no love for his younger brother, so much so that he forced him away from his rightful place as Liege Lord of the Stormlands in favour of the youngest, Renly, and into this dark abyss. The lord of nothingness. "My King calls, and I obey."

Selyse looked at him, really looked at him. "Your sense of duty will get yourself killed one day, and then you will leave me to mourn."

"If that were to ever happen, I know that you would be cared for well." He had to tread a line carefully, he was often away at the capital, serving his brother upon the small council, yet in reality he co-ruled with Jon Arryn, the current Hand. His fate could be potentially fatal; the Lannisters were at King's Landing in abundance, one wrong move could spell disaster. 'There is something strange occurring there. That son of his…' He had his suspicions, idle campfire chatter he had heard during the Siege of Storm's End, enough so that what he was told and saw was enough to be thrown into doubt.

That was an issue for another time, for now he was content to remain in the presence of his wife in contended silence as her eyes grew heavier as she drifted off to sleep. An indeterminate amount of time later saw a slight knocking at the door, "Come in," he said quietly.

Stannis had always wondered how Naruto had gotten the scars that framed his face, three jagged lines on each cheek, almost like whisker marks. In the small light they were the dominant feature that he saw, but when he asked, Naruto refused to answer, clamming down his jaw in defiance. He hadn't asked the question again.

"My Lord, the ships are waiting to sail on your order," Davos was behind him. 'Such a loyal friend'.

Stannis rose, taking a glance back at his wife's sleeping face, kissing her brow, turning and leaving. Naruto nodded at him as he was leaving, drawing out his small blade, 'a Tanto' to begin his watch. Stannis almost smiled, almost being the key term; it wasn't in his personality to show such enthusiasm.

Stannis walked upon the deck of his flagship the _Lady Selyse _giving the signal to his flagman to release the order to sail. Hundreds of ships containing many thousands of men went up in cheer, they were taking the fight to the enemy, and their roles shall be the most important of all. The Ironmen fleet was said to be the greatest in the world, far beyond any force the Free Cities could muster, even Braavos with its enormous naval presence.

The journey was long and arduous, taking many days to sail around the corner of Dorne and north to Fair Isle, meeting the Reachmen naval forces harboured at the Arbor, along with the salvaged Lannisport fleet. Paxter Redwyne and Stannis did not get along, not since the Siege, but he respected his tenacity at fighting amongst the waves at least.

The battle that followed was bloody but brief, Victarion Greyjoy was his prisoner by the end, with his cell placed on Stannis' flagship personally, then taken back to Casterly Rock, so close to where his fleet had burnt the ships previously. When the battle took to land, and Stannis led the assault upon Old Wyk, it was the first time he had ever taken part in a battle such as it was. The naval combat from before was mostly strategic and tactical manoeuvres as he commanded the Royal Fleet in battle. The Siege that he endured was mostly that; little to no combat actually took place. Even the taking of Dragonstone was minimal fighting at best; the amount of Targaryen loyalists by then had dropped considerably.

Blood flew, fire burnt and bodies littered the ground. The walls had been easy to breach, the fleet concentrated all fire upon one section of the wall, and Stannis' men met the Ironborn on the incline and beach. Arrows had rained down upon both sides; Stannis ignored them in favour of the axe, sword, spear, and shields in front of him. He had trained and trained almost his whole life for this moment, but all that rigidity and discipline was removed as the piles of bodies smashed into each other, not giving an inch in ground.

He had foregone the typical Baratheon helm, the antlers were a bit much for his standards, instead donned identical as the men with him. It was havoc, try as he might, he could not swing his sword down on the first Ironborn rammed in to, resorting to smashing his helm repeatedly upon the already broken nose of his opponent. This allowed for room to swing his sword down at the one behind the felled man, slicing through the front of his face. The screaming was ignored as arrows flew overhead, drowning lightly clad enemies in an sea of wood.

It was almost a week after the bloody and successful aftermath of the short-lived Greyjoy Rebellion, seeing Stannis sitting in a gifted, temporary manse within the walls of the capital when the word came from Dragonstone. An unknown assassin had tried to take the like of his wife and newborn daughter, succeeding in killing three guards before being challenged by his young ward.

Robert may not have had much love for his brother, but he still had honour in his name, and his joy of hearing at how his family's protector had swiftly dispatched the assailant, mixed with the good fortune of blessed combat and victory; he ordered his younger brother to send a writ of knighthood to the boy, commanding Stannis to knight him personally when he returned.

When he returned, he followed his order to the letter, an unbidden smile on his face, matching the jagged scar over Naruto's eye.

**Chapter end.**

**I know that I haven't got the next chapters of A Maelstroms Flock out yet but that is because they haven't been written yet. Until I get motivation to do so that fic will be put on hold. Also not quite sure where I am going to go with this, so expect sporadic updates.**

**POTENTIAL SPOILER - Also, I'm taking the route that many others have gone down in the theory that Jon Snow is Lyanna and Rhaegar's son, and that it isn't really Aegon with Connington.**


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